SYDNEY, Australia Asian investors on Friday began picking up the pieces after the crash of global markets overnight.

While Asian shares fell heavily on Thursday, the damage in Europe was far steeper, with all indices shedding more than 3% of their value.

Wall Street stopped the rot however with only minor losses, and a gain by the Nasdaq.

So, eyes on Friday turned to Asia, and by the close of trading Friday, investors and traders were breathing a sigh of relief.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rallied 177.26 points or 0.82% to close at 21,678.68.

In Australia, the All Ordinaries added 21.20 points or 0.37% to 5,757.90.

The Shanghai Composite was more subdued, gaining just 0.71 of a point or 0.03% to 2,605.89.

In Hong Kong Friday, the Hang Seng went against the trend, losing 92.62points or 0.35% at 26,063.76.

The U.S. dollar was little changed, although it gained against the Australian dollar. In late trading in Sydney on Friday the euro was quoted at 1.1373. The Japanese yen was changing hands at 112.78, and the British pound at 1.2766.

The Swiss franc was quoted at 0.9928, while the Canadian dollar remained weak at 1.3391.

The Australian dollar slipped to 0.7215, while the New Zealand dollar inched down to 0.6875.